hourly conceived and hourly born
by wild wolf free17
Summary: Jefferson's origin story: the youngest prince of a land where everyone has magic.
1. Chapter 1

Title: hourly conceived and hourly born

Fandom: Once Upon a Time/Dracula/historical

Disclaimer: title from Milton; not my characters

Pairings: Dracula's son/daughter in law

Warnings: references to violence

Rating: PG

Wordcount: 400

Point of view: third

Prompt: Dracula/any, Dracula (+/) any, expanding into new territory.

* * *

Vlad loses the war. He has but a moment to decide how to proceed for the good of his people and it is an easy choice to make: there is nothing for them here. The kingdom will be annexed into various other kingdoms, by both Christians and Moslems – there is nowhere safe for Vlad's people or especially his family.

When he was younger, while Father was away at war, Mother had told Vlad and Mircea stories of a place where they could be free and safe; she called it the Wishing Room. She and Father are both dead now, and so is Mihnea. Whether Father or Mihnea knew about the Wishing Room, Vlad does not know. And it is probably nothing more than a story.

Vlad returns home just ahead of the invaders; Neacsa is with her women and Vlaicu, who has only recently begun to walk. Vlad orders Neacsa's attendants out and scoops up his toddling son. "Where is Mircea?" he asks.

"In the library," she says.

Mihnea's children are scattered and Vlad cannot help them now, can scarcely protect his own son. "Come," he says and Neacsa follows.

.

"The Wishing Room?" Mircea murmurs, closing his eyes. "I remember stories."

"It is our only chance," Vlad says. "Can you send word out to those who are loyal? If perhaps enough find their way…"

Mircea opens his eyes. "Yes," he says. "Prepare supplies; we will need to leave tonight."

Vlad hands Vlaicu to Neacsa. "Dismiss all the servants; they need to gather their families. Wallachia is lost to us."

.

The Wishing Room, Mother had said, could be summoned with a drop of dragon's blood and a fervent desire.

Their people stream in, all those who received the message and understood it. "This is blasphemy," Neacsa murmurs, looking out over the nervous crowd. "Devilry."

"It could save our son," Vlad replies.

Mircea slices into his own palm and lets the blood drop onto the dirt.

.

A hundred people follow Vlad through the light and into a room full of doors. The light fades behind them as they gape – doors that stretch on out of sight, doors of all design and size.

"What is this?" Neacsa asks, shushing Vlaicu as he begins to cry.

"The Wishing Room," Mircea says, openly grinning. "We must choose a door and go through to our new land." Mircea gestures at the options. "Vlad, our king – choose where we go."


	2. Chapter 2

Title: hourly conceived and hourly born

Disclaimer: if you recognize them, they're not mine

Warnings: goes AU at the end of season 1

Pairings: Jefferson/Grace's mother

Rating: PG

Wordcount: 970

Point of view: third

Prompt: Once Upon a Time, Jefferson/Mad Hatter, One is painfully sane, the other is mad, bad and dangerous to know.

* * *

Iakov had once been the youngest prince of a magically-rich land where everyone had at least a spark of magic. The royals always had just a bit more; they needed to be able to defend the land, after all.

Iakov's mother was King Elisabeta, his father the Royal Consort Hadrian, his oldest sister the Crown Princess Aurelia, and his older twin brothers the Princes Darius and Drago.

Her Majesty Elisabeta's talent was elemental; His Highness Hadrian's talent was with mindworks. All four of their children could bend the world around them to their whim: Aurelia by enacting her will on the living vegetation, the twins by summoning and banishing whatever they liked, and Iakov –

Well, Iakov could open portals to other lands at the drop of a hat.

Literally.

.

When Iakov was sixteen, he decided to wander through the realms. A decree from his mother would've kept him home, of course, but she understood the desire. She had once felt it, but as the only of her siblings suitable for ruling, she could not leave.

"I'll keep watch on you," his father said. "And should you ever need us, just call. No matter where you are, I'll hear."

Iakov swore. (And he did keep that promise – but Wonderland muffles all magicks that are not native, and he had known better than to go there again. But go there he did.)

.

It was not Prince Iakov of the Dragon Clan who stepped through the hat. He spent three weeks with a new name in every village until he finally settled on Jefferson. Jefferson, the portal jumper, traveler and thief, charmer and rogue. Jefferson, ally of the Dark One and friend of the Evil Queen.

(He laughs about it with Darius; Drago doesn't find it as funny, but he's always been nicer than his brothers. And Aurelia only wants to hear the stories that won't call for his arrest.)

When he meets Rochelle, she is the servant in a house he is robbing, and she closes his portal with the wave of her hand. "Take me with you," she orders, "or you won't be leaving."

He takes her with him.

She decides to stay.

.

A hat is a hat is a hat.

A portal jumper needs a portal.

Jefferson is a portal jumper.

Once… once, he was Prince Iakov of the Dragon Clan, walker of worlds.

.

Jefferson loses Rochelle when Grace is three summers old. She is bitten by a viper and dies immediately. Jefferson knows a magical construct when he sees it – no snake is so venomous that the healing spell handed down for fifteen generations cannot counteract it.

Jefferson heeds the warning.

(Mama, Da, Aurelia, Darius, and Drago all beg him to come home with his daughter.

He should have.)

.

Jefferson ceases work for the Dark One. When the imp tries to threaten him, Iakov of the Dragon Clan peers out his eyes.

Jefferson refuses all contact with the Evil Queen. When she sends minions to fetch him, none of them ever return.

Jefferson and Grace are happy and free.

.

The magic of the Dragon Clan has never worked correctly in Wonderland.

He screams for years and his father never hears.

.

In Storybrook, there is no magic.

Jefferson is a portal jumper. He needs a portal.

But Iakov…

His first night in Maine, he screams and he hears _Iakov?!_

_._

Iakov of the Dragon Clan, Walker of Worlds, could break the Curse. Unfortunately, it would drain his homeland of most of its magic.

Iakov clings to his family through the tenuous connection with his father and practices what little magic he can actually reach. For an hour every day, he visits with his parents and his siblings.

And years pass. His siblings wed. His parents grow old.

He dreams of Wonderland.

He watches Grace.

There is a dragon inside him and he is caged.

.

His father dies in the eighteenth year, three months before Regina adopts a child.

Drago's oldest daughter has a talent for mindworks, but Iakov refuses to trap a child as he has been trapped. She isn't strong enough, yet, to reach him unless he reaches first.

It hurts, but he turns away from her questing call.

.

He dreams of Wonderland. Of the Queen of Hearts.

He dreams of Rochelle.

He dreams of Regina's heart breaking.

He is three men, all trapped inside a marvelous house.

He –

.

Later, he does not remember much of the decade after Regina adopted the boy.

But he wakes from a nightmare of Wonderland when the Savior crosses the border. He has had a trickle of magic for 28 years, and none at all for however long he was in Wonderland.

The Queen of Hearts' prisoner cackles inside him. Jefferson cries at feeling magic again.

Iakov of the Dragon Clan uncoils.

.

He reaches. Ileana reaches back. She is a woman now, as powerful as the still-reigning King Elisabeta.

_What do you need, Uncle?_ she asks.

Iakov smiles. _When the Curse is broken, my daughter and I will come home. Is there still a place for us?_

_Always, Uncle,_ Ileana promises. _May you find shelter beneath the dragon's wings._

Iakov of the Dragon Clan finishes_, And may the fire be ever-hot and the wind ever-strong_.

.

Jefferson was a portal jumper in need of portals.

A hat is a hat is a hat.

But this is Regina's game, even though she never fully understood all of the players.

He is content to let it play out.

.

The Curse breaks. The Dark One brings forth magic.

Iakov of the Dragon Clan stretches his wings and goes to his daughter.

.

A hat is a hat is a hat.

.

The first thing Iakov says, standing in the front room of his mother's suite, is, "You've gotten old, Mama."

Her Majesty King Elisabeta laughs, pulling her youngest child into her arms.


	3. Chapter 3

Title: hourly conceived and hourly born

Fandom: Once Upon a Time/Dracula/historical

Disclaimer: title from Milton; not my characters

Pairings: Jefferson/Grace's mother, Grace's mother/OMC

Warnings: mentions of abortion; maybe a smidge of implied dubcon (Jefferson is not involved); implied spousal abuse (Jefferson is not involved)

Rating: PG

Wordcount: 590

Point of view: third

Prompt: any, any. "The Consequence of Desire" (Vampire Knight)

* * *

Rochelle Poplin is the youngest daughter of a youngest daughter and her only inheritance is the position of a chambermaid in a lesser nobleman's house. She has a bit of magic that her mother warns her to keep hidden, always, when she is barely three summers old. Her mother's face is bleeding while her father rants upstairs, and Rochelle's older brothers are already at their apprenticeships and her older sisters already wed. Rochelle alone remains at home.

She is sent to the nobleman's house as soon as she is old enough to follow orders and given into the housekeeper's care.

Yana is firm and strict, and Rochelle quickly falls into line. She holds her tongue and learns.

.

When she is fifteen summers, she catches the oldest son's eye. She has thought herself plain all her life but perhaps it is simply that she is available. She tumbles with him, of course, and he gifts her with jewelry that she hides away in the pocket of air she mastered as a child, where all her treasures are kept. It is the only magic she has.

When she is sixteen summers, she misses her monthly bleeding. For a sapphire ring, the town hedgewitch provides her with a charm so that the babe does not grow. The next month, she bleeds three times and cries herself to sleep.

When she is seventeen summers, the oldest son leaves to make his fortune and they have one last tumble. Yana frowns at her when the son blows her a kiss.

When she is nineteen summers, Rochelle hears whirling wind inside the manor. She follows the sound to a portal in the gallery, where the most expensive portraits are kept. There is a man tossing priceless treasures through the portal. She looks from the portal to the man and decides the worst that can happen is he kills her, so she drops the portal into her air pocket.

The man is attractive even when gaping like a fool. "Take me with you," she orders, "or you won't be leaving."

He laughs. "Give me back the portal and you're welcome to join me," he says.

She draws the portal out of the pocket and goes through it; the man follows, closing it behind him.

.

His name is Jefferson. He teaches her tricks of magic that are more than she ever dreamed could be possible. He is a thief and a rogue, and he works for bad people but that doesn't matter to her.

He promises, "One day, we'll go home, you and I," kissing her throat and jaw and lips.

.

When Rochelle is twenty-two summers, she misses her monthly bleed again. She tells Jefferson and his smile is more beautiful than any she has yet seen.

.

Rochelle names their daughter Grace; Jefferson murmurs, "Ioana" trailing one finger along their daughter's body from the crown of her head to the sole of her feet.

"What is that?" Rochelle asks.

Jefferson smiles and says, "Her birthright. It simply means 'God is gracious,' where I'm from."

"And what's yours?" she asks, pulling him away from the crib so that Grace can sleep.

"Iakov," he says. "'God protects.'"

"And we'll go there, someday?" She pushes him onto the bed and falls next to him, tucking herself beneath his arm.

"Yes, my love," he promises, pressing a kiss to her hair. "You'll be treated like a princess."

She laughs. "Oh, I don't care about that. I just want to learn more magic."

Jefferson chuckles. "That, I can see to."


	4. Chapter 4

Title: hourly conceived and hourly born

Fandom: Once Upon a Time/Dracula/historical

Disclaimer: title from Milton; not my characters

Pairings: Jefferson/Grace's mother

Warnings: references to violence; pre-series

Rating: PG

Wordcount: 290

Point of view: third

Prompt: Once Upon A Time. any. "The Truth Behind Truths" (FullMetal Alchemist)

* * *

"Papa?" Grace says, lights flickering across her fingers, "do I have magic?" She sounds frightened.

Well, of course she is. The only magic she knows is the kind that stole her mother, the kind of the Dark One and the Evil Queen.

The lamp burned out while he was gone, out sealing the way. Regina seeks them and until Jefferson is sure they are safe, he locks the path every night. The lamp burned out and Grace fears the dark, so she unknowingly created light.

According to his older sister, Jefferson's first magic was the same.

"You do, my dear," he says, reigniting the lamp with a thought. "Your mother did, as well, and so do I."

Grace shakes her head, hiding her hands in the folds of her skirt. "But magic's bad!" she says.

Her mother has been gone for three years.

Jefferson sighs, sinking down in front of Grace and gently wrapping his hands around hers. "Magic is neither good nor bad on its own," he tells her softly. "The wielder decides which it will be."

He could lock her magic away; as one of the Dragon Clan, it is his right and duty, though usually only used by the reigning king. But her magic will be her last defense, should he fall.

"We'll begin practicing every night," he says, meeting her gaze. "If you understand it, you will not fear it."

"Yes, Papa," she says. She glances toward the lamp before looking back at him. "Can you teach me to make light?"

Should they ever return home, she will be known as Princess Ioana of the Dragon Clan, firstborn of Prince Iakov of the Dragon Clan. "Yes, Grace," he says. "I can teach you to make light."


	5. Chapter 5

Title: hourly conceived and hourly born

Fandom: Once Upon a Time/Dracula/historical

Disclaimer: title from Milton; not my characters

Pairings: Jefferson/Grace's mother

Warnings: references to violence

Rating: PG

Wordcount: 710

Point of view: third

Prompt: any, any, happy endings always start with hope

* * *

The first thing Grace asks is, "I'm a princess?"

The second is, "This is a realm where _everyone_ has magic?"

.

Papa smiles, here. Grace has cousins her own age who delight in showing her harmless magic tricks. They call her Ioana, and Papa Iakov. Her grandmother, Papa's mother, is not a queen - she is a _king_. Papa's older sister is the heir, and Grace's cousin Alexandru, middle son of Papa's oldest brother, is _her_ heir, and Grace is sure they've gotten how to arrange successions wrong, but...

Papa spent ages trapped in Wonderland, she knows now, and then the entirety of the curse in Storybrooke trapped except for when her grandfather communicated with him through mindworks (_telepathy, _Paige whispers) and then her cousin Ileana.

Grace herself has magic. Her uncle Drago is a teacher and he teaches her while Papa spends days ensconced with the king and crown princess.

There is even a _ball_ in her and Papa's honor. Grace is introduced to the realm as Princess Ioana of the Dragon Clan, daughter of Prince Iakov of the Dragon Clan, and she wishes that Mama were here.

.

"Are you happy?" Papa asks as he tucks her into bed, very early in the morning after the ball.

"Why Ioana?" she asks. Mama had named her Grace, Papa told her a long time ago. After Papa getting lost in Wonderland and the curse, her name is all she has left of Mama.

"Here, it means 'God is gracious,'" Papa says. "If you ask, the family will call you Grace."

She stares up at him; he is older than she remembers, but not by much. He doesn't seem tired anymore, the way he always did back in the forest. So she smiles and says, "Just you, Papa. Please keep calling me Grace."

"Of course," he says, leaning down to kiss her forehead. "Now, my darling Grace, are you too old for stories now?"

"Never," she laughs. "Can you tell me about this land?"

He settles in beside her and begins, "There once was a very powerful king who was also a mage, and he strove to save his people."

.

Grace wonders sometimes what is happening in Storybrooke, or if everyone has returned to their original lands. But she is kept busy with decorum and magic lessons, with Papa's stories that are actually the history of Vladvaria (named for the first of their blood, who created a safe haven away from persecution), with adventures throughout the capitol because Papa wants to show her their new home.

"We know where your talent lies," Papa says, grinning at her after she lights every candle in the palace with barely any effort at all.

Everyone person born on Vladvaria soil or to a Vladvarian has at least a spark of magic. Those of royal blood, Uncle Drago had explained, were always gifted with much more.

"Why didn't you tell me, Papa?" Grace asks, because she'd known about creating light for a few years before the Evil Queen came calling.

"I have made many mistakes," Papa says now, leaning against the wall and sliding down, legs stretched out in front of him. Grace goes over to settle next to him and leans into his side. Papa's arm goes around her and she misses being small enough to curl into his lap. "The greatest, I think, was not returning here with your mama immediately. But I was vain and foolish." He laughs; it sounds sharp and bitter. "I wanted to make my own away as Jefferson the portal-jumper, not Prince Iakov the World Walker."

Papa sighs and confesses, "I wanted to remain Jefferson for just a little while longer." He kisses her hair. He whispers, "Are you happy here, Grace?"

She thinks back to Storybrooke, to their cottage in the forest, to her few memories of Mama. "I am, Papa," she says. "Truly, I am."

In Vladvaria, Papa smiles. He laughs. He has magic tussles with his siblings, who all seem so much older than he does but still play easily.

"I am so very glad," Papa says. "Now – can you fashion a dragon with your light?"

"Of course I can," she declares. She is Grace, Princess Ioana of the Dragon Clan, and so she sets to work.


End file.
